Where are the politics of Bafana Bafana?
While most sports in South Africa are inseparable from the national political imagination, men's football manages to stay relatively removed.
SPORTS
Just touched down in Morocco
Does the development of African football necessitate a trade off in vibes at continental tournaments?
Cédric Bakambu’s gesture
How the Congolese national team has become a rare source of unity, recognition, and solidarity for communities living through war.
Three footballers walk into a stadium
What the presence of an unlikely trio of football icons at AFCON tells us about migration, African identity, and the histories that continue to shape the modern game
The Senegalese paradox
How Senegal rose to become one of the most fertile grounds in African football, and why this success still struggles to transform the local football economy.
Le paradoxe sénégalais
Comment le Sénégal est-il devenu l'un des viviers les plus prolifiques du football africain, et pourquoi ce succès peine-t-il encore à transformer l'économie du football local.
Sounds of the Africa Cup of Nations
What it sounds like on the ground in Morocco at the 2025 edition of Africa Cup of Nations.
AFCON and the politics of Africanhood
In Morocco, football has become a site for the slow re-Africanization of the country’s national identity.
The myth of Nigerian football exceptionalism
The Super Eagles don’t suffer from a shortage of talent, but represent a country unwilling to admit that greatness is not a birthright.
Salah in isolation
Distanced at club level, and scrutinized at home, there is no player with more to prove at this Africa Cup of Nations than Mohamed Salah.
The boys are back in town
Bafana Bafana’s resurgence has been forged where South African football always lives — between brilliance and the bizarre.
A giant chance
An African Cup of Nations at home for red hot Morocco is a chance to put past trauma aside and charge on to the world stage.
On the pitch
This year, instead of taking a publishing break, we will be covering the African Cup of Nations. To transition, we consider why football still matters in an era of enclosure, mediated presence, and thinning publics.
An island nation, everywhere
When Cabo Verde qualified for the World Cup, celebrations erupted from Praia to Rotterdam. The Blue Sharks’ rise shows how a scattered people built a global team rooted in home.
Hospitals versus stadiums
As Morocco prepares to host AFCON and the 2030 World Cup, a decentralized youth movement is demanding real investment in public services over sporting spectacle.
Enemies of progress
Delayed, underfunded, and undermined, this year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has exposed not just neglect but active sabotage from CAF and national federations.
Matchday 2: The Battle of Omdurman
A new season of the African Five-a-side podcast asks, “what is the greatest match in the history of men's African football?”
Whose game is remembered?
The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations opens in Morocco amid growing calls to preserve the stories, players, and legacy of the women who built the game — before they’re lost to erasure and algorithm alike.
Critical mass
Cycling as community in Dar es Salaam.
The verdict against womanhood
From trans bans to racial exclusion, the hard-won gains made in women’s football are being rolled back under the guise of protecting women.